WA

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Council has last week voted to continue operations of the popular refuse facility known as the Bowerbird ... “People can conveniently drop off items on their way to the tip, and these products are then given a second life in homes where they are needed most": Greater Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn.

The addition of two Large Air Tankers (LATs) will significantly strengthen Western Australia's firefighting capability as emergency services prepare for a busy bushfire season. A C130 Hercules LAT, which will remain in WA for the high threat fire season, was unveiled on 5 December 2022.

The whites run when juvenile western rock lobsters undergo a synchronised moult in late spring actually starts in the Two Rocks to Cervantes region before getting underway later in northern areas such as Kalbarri. During the whites run recreational fishers, who need a licence, flock to the Two Rocks marina and other areas so they can head out to check their pots.

The Shire of Coolgardie’s independently run Meals on Wheels service was recognised on a National stage this week, after winning the Meals On Wheels Australia Service Excellence Award for 2022 ... The program not only provides residents with free and nutritious meals, but it also became a welfare check on clients in our regional towns throughout the Shire.

Having read the latest comment by Philip Zylstra in the ARR.News journal I was tempted to dismiss it as negligible, and move on. Then I realised that he had denigrated my colleagues, dismissing them as an emotional "lobby group”, and I realised that he must not be allowed to have the last word. To the extent that we are pushing for Australian governments to adopt a bushfire policy and management practices that minimise bushfire damage to the Australian people, to community assets and the environment, then yes, we are lobbyists. But we do so unemotionally, from the basis of science and experience.

If you love the view from the top of your farm looking out over the surrounding countryside, then let’s hope you are not near the coast or major power lines or in a windy part of Western Australia because the state and federal governments and the men and women with white shoes are quietly pouring over maps looking for sites that will become tomorrow’s wind farms.

The McGowan Government is taking the next significant step towards achieving its target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions after announcing Water Corporation has secured the development rights of what will be one of Western Australia's largest renewable wind energy projects ... In a move that will significantly reduce its emissions, Water Corporation today announced it had secured development rights for the Flat Rocks Wind Farm Stage 2 from WA-owned Moonies Hill Energy.

Serena Kirby. The Birkbeck family’s Raintree Farm distillery and restaurant arm is completely ‘off grid’ after more than a decade of research and infrastructure construction. By being energy self-sufficient Steve said The Dam expected to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by between 105-150t a year. The move to energy self-sufficiency has been a long-term goal that has cost more than $1 million.

Colin Ashton-Graham. Cyclists, 960 in total, from 160 teams including two Denmark teams raced on November 3 in the Australian Teams Cycling Championships at the Tour of Margaret River in Nannup ... The gruelling Margaret River tour is set up like a mini Tour De France, with teams competing over five race stages totalling 223km and 3440m elevation (equivalent to climbing Mt Kosciuszko and then Bluff Knoll).

Patricia Gill. Denmark's NAB branch will close February 9. Denmark Chamber of Commerce president Chris Langslow called the closure disappointing, particularly for small businesses and retailers/hospitality businesses which required cash and cheques.

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People living in regional Western Australia are being invited to complete a Department of Transport survey to help shape the future of bike riding in their local community. Three surveys targeting people who live in or visit the Gascoyne, Great Southern, and Kalgoorlie-Boulder regions are now open for comment on the  My Say Transport website, with the resulting feedback used to shape long-term cycling strategies for each region.

The critique of our study of fire history in southwestern forests illustrates the difficulty of discussion around such emotive issues. We reported that according to Departmental records, bushfires were seven times more likely in areas of forest that still had the dense understorey that had been germinated by prescribed burns than they were in other areas where the understorey had self-thinned because it had been left alone. These are the facts, but they leave us at an impasse.

The tiny town of Dardanup is celebrating its rich history with the opening of a new heritage trail, telling the fascinating stories of its first inhabitants. The trail covers 12 historic locations across the townsite ... The Old State School, Dardanup Post Office and Thomas Little Memorial Hall are just some of the landmarks featured.

The re-established Upper Coastal sporting facilities working group held its first meeting on Wednesday, November 9 at the Lancelin Sporting Complex. Back in June sporting clubs were disappointed with the Shire of Gingin council’s decision to not re-establish the working group to undertake a review of the Upper Coastal sporting facilities master plan, which had proposed “the creation of an active sports space in Lancelin, with more passive sports located in Ledge Point”.

Nic Duncan’s photography work is not the glamorous kind. Far from it. Nic travels to the back of beyond to capture her subjects within their natural habitat. There’s no fictitious backdrops, no wardrobe assistant and certainly no makeup artist. It’s all about reflecting a person’s natural state. Raw and real, regional and rural she seeks the opposite of city and suburban.

Australia's first remote renewable hydrogen microgrid has launched in Denham in Western Australia's Gascoyne region ... Once fully operational in early 2023, the plant is expected to be able to power the average demands of 100 households or 20 per cent of Denham's residents and businesses.

Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan has launched Dive Ningaloo's new dive charter vessel at an official naming ceremony in Exmouth. The newly restored Lady Ningaloo will provide tourists with access to the underwater wonderland of the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef and Muiron Islands.

Patricia Gill. Denmark's first St Ayles Skiff headed through the channel at the Rivermouth on Saturday marking the end of the 10-month community project to build the boat. Organiser David Cliff reflected on the project, quoting Ratty telling Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s novel, Wind in the Willows: “Believe me my young friend there is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much fun as simply messing about in boats”.

In his 24 October response on this issue, Zylstra states that in their study seven times more area of recently burnt forest was burnt than long unburnt forest. That is not in dispute. But was this because there were seven times the number of ignitions in these areas to start with because of chance or differences in area or because of some flammability factor? We simply do not know because this basic statistical requirement was not considered in the study.   Is the conclusion biased, by how much, and in what direction? Who knows?